


Six's Story

by BrokenWorld1984



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: And horror, Running, and hugs, and quite possibly death, hunger, lots and lots of running
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 14:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11232756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenWorld1984/pseuds/BrokenWorld1984
Summary: This is basically just a Little Nightmares playthrough novelized. No more explanation required.Based off some headcanons, Youtube videos and some stuff from the wiki and official website.





	1. Prologue

Darkness. You couldn't see anything else, as much as your eyes tried to adjust. Then light, not much more than a glimmer, but light nonetheless. It didn't reveal much, as most things are down here; full of secrets best left hidden, but deep inside you something stirred.

Someone else was here.

As the figure turned to look at you-

 

\- you woke up.

It was nothing more than a nightmare, a memory pushed into the back of your head only to reemerge as horrifying dreams. But now is not the time to ponder about things. As you get up from your shelter (or rather, a very old suitcase thrown into the depths), you feel for your lighter. It isn't exactly "your" lighter, since it most likely belonged to someone else. You only found it one day and claimed it as your own. After all, light was rare, down here in this prison. 

You haven't explored much; you've been saving your strength ever since you got here on... on.... Time is strange here. Days can feel like months and moments seem like forever, so you haven't bothered yourself with dates and minutes of the day. There were more things to worry about.

Like escaping.

As you crawl through vents leading to various places, you wonder. 

You wonder about how to get around in this labyrinth of cold metal, wood and God knows what. You wonder of food. When was the last time you've eaten? You can't remember. You wonder... about the outside world. You haven't seen much of it, but you had a vague knowing of it. The air had a salty tang to it, no doubt brought in by the ocean. It was old, much, much older than anything you can think of. It was full of horror. "It" being the place you were in:

The Maw.


	2. Finding Little Lost Things

You land on a box once you emerge from the vents. The vent you emerged from is too high to reach now, so returning to your suitcase is no longer an option. The area smells of damp and must, and some other scents you can't identify. There is a staircase in front of you; you don't wonder who built it or why whoever built a staircase here, you just climb it, no questions asked. As you climb, if you listened closely, you could hear one of the creatures somewhere. That was good. They are usually skittish, and will flee at the first sign of danger. If there were Nomes around, there were no immediate threats. However, that didn't mean the place was 100% safe.

No place is safe here.

When you reach the top of the stairs, you stroll a bit, glancing briefly at a door never meant to be opened, a few boxes next to it, you find a narrow path. It leads to nowhere in particular, but upon closer inspection, you find a porcelain statue. It's cute in it's own way, so you bring it along... for about two seconds before you slip and the statue shatters, releasing black particles into the air. Not feeling any guilt for the doll you broke, you carry on.

Your shelter and all the areas you've been in so far have been leaking (the place wasn't very well maintained, after all, this area is the home of several things left behind), but this room looks like the aftermath of a flood contained in a single room. Various chairs and furniture have been suspended from the ceiling to avoid damage, save for a sofa and some other furniture too heavy (or perhaps someone just didn't care about them) to strap onto the ceiling, buckets in every corner to catch leaks, despite there being an abundance of puddles in almost every place where the buckets aren't positioned. Aside from those, nothing worth staying for here but the damp. You spy a bed at the far end, along with an open vent. Using an old suitcase you climb up, enjoy the softness of the mattress, then clamber into the vent.

On the other side is a body.

The person has been hanged, his legs dangling from a hole in the ceiling, his torso hidden from view. Even if you knew who he was, no amount of mourning, crying, or gaping at the corpse could bring him back to life, so you leave him be and use the chair under him to reach a doorknob.

On the other side, it's dark again. The only hint of light comes from a exhaust fan, and even that isn't enough to fully illuminate the room. You can make out the floor, the immediate vicinity of the fan, and black... ooze? You don't question it. Further on, you see a fridge and other nonfunctional appliances lying around, but other than that, there's nothing but dead ends... Or so you think. Upon closer inspection, the fridge has handprints of someone your size. As soon you open it, a Nome scampers out, heading towards the wall and disappearing. You follow it, and find a hole in the cobbled sheets of metal, and you crawl inside. When you crawl out again, you find the Nome, its cone twitching in fear. You take a few slow steps toward it, with each footfall the more jumpy the creature gets... and you give it a hug. When you put it down, the Nome seems to have calmed down, and tilts its head in a friendly way. You wave, then light the lamp next to it. When you crawl back out, you feel just a bit brighter inside.

You use the shelves in the fridge as a ladder since there are no other ways to go. When you reach the top, there is a jump you'll have to make. But before you can move, you hear something splat on the wood nearby. You fumble around for your lighter, but it's too late.

It wraps around you, ensuring you can't escape, bites into your calf, and sucks. You collapse, the world fading around you.

You blink your eyes open sleepily. When had you fallen asleep? But no time to wonder about that now. You were dreaming of something... you can't remember. But the fridge door is already open, the Nome in its hole; you must have fallen asleep after hugging the latter. But as you climb, you feel a twinge of déjà vu. Have you done this before...? You shake the feeling off, and make a running jump, landing on your feet as you make it to the other side. You hear a splat on the wood from the direction you just came. Now that you can safely view whatever it is, you open your lighter and you see it.

It's a leech, almost as tall as you had it been upright, dragging itself along the wood, and very hungry. But it can't reach you and you have absolutely no intention of going back there, so you walk away from the desperate noises coming from it. The peace doesn't last long, though.

There are more of them. As the current outside the Maw's walls rock the floor, you can make out three more leeches, hanging above you on a pipe. They all drop down, hungry for fresh blood, leaving black ooze in their trail, but they are too slow. In the time that takes them to drop and start crawling, you've already pulled a switch, causing a section of the wall to open up, and you quickly slip by it, jumping over another gap and sliding into the second doorway before both slam shut, leaving only a boarded up path in front of you. The plank nearest to you isn't very well hammered in, and when you pull it out, the resulting force throws you off your feet, but otherwise unharmed.

The next room is dark. You can just barely make out a chair three feet away from you and another Nome running away from you, its cone bobbing as it goes. You try to follow it, but a portion of the floor you're running on breaks, leaving you to spiral into the darkness.

Which you soon discover to be the leeches' nest.

Your raincoat is splattered with black residue, but you don't have time to clean it off or be happy about the fact that you're still alive after falling several feet. The leeches are closing in on you and you have to act fast. Opening your lighter, you sprint past most of them, jump over another, narrowly avoiding their deadly mouths, and ram yourself into a wooden barrier. Once it crashes down, you make a jump across a gap in the platforms, then finally allow yourself to relax.

When your heartbeat slows down to its regular pace, you continue on, lighting a nearby lamp in case a Nome should pass. You climb a ladder and, surprisingly, find a Nome there. You hadn't expected to see one so soon, but before you can take a step towards it, it bolts, leaving you behind. You follow it, crossing a plank only just as wide as you, climbing another staircase, but when you reach the top, it has disappeared. Instead of finding the skittish creature, you try and find a way through. Some of the planks have gone over time so you carefully make your way past the gaps and try not to plummet to your death. A moment later, you find a crank. As you turn it, your eyes widen. Light! Real golden sunlight! But where was it coming from? You let go of the crank and turn around to find the source coming from a doorway, but it's closing fast, the light going with it. You whirl back to the crank and turn it until it won't go any farther, and let go. You break into a sprint, not minding to take the already set path but instead jumping over the gaps to make more time, and just make it past the closing door.

To your disappointment, the light was just a simple lightbulb. You remind yourself that you will see real sunlight soon, but for now, focus on getting out. Determined to do just that, you look and find a vent. It's closed though, like the one in your little corner of the Maw. When you open it, you become distracted by what came out.

So that's where the Nome went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me several days to get this done (took so long because of school, got distracted several times from writing, and I'm only allowed to use the Web on weekends... yeah.), but here it is!


	3. Prison Toys and Hunger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of one nightmare and into another.

When the Nome is out of sight, you notice the _other_ hole in the wall, and then follow your instincts, going through it. You weren't really sure if you wanted to be cramped in another vent.

You land in an open area, and you breathe deeply, taking in the smell of salt, rust, and other things. When you start going again, the sound you hear makes your teeth grind. It's the sound of metal being dragged on metal, and when you look to the source of the sound, the only thing you see is an arm dragging a cage behind it before it disappears behind a doorway out of your line of vision.

No time to worry about that, though. There's a rope made of blankets and bed sheets; something you'd see in movies when a kid tried to run away from home (But you've never seen any movies, so the reference makes no sense to you). You climb the makeshift ladder and land in a bathroom. The sink is impossible for someone like you to reach, but you don't really need to have anything to do with it, anyway. When you see the bars, you don't go through them immediately. Sparks fly from it, foreshadowing your fate very clearly if you tried to step through.

A quick scan of the room reveals the solution, and as soon as you grab the switch, your weight just bringing it down enough, the electricity is shut down. You don't know how long it's going to stay that way, though so you run, using your lighter to guide you through the bars, toppling a tower of building blocks and nearly tripping over a toy train, and when you make it past the second set of bars, the electricity turns itself back on.

There are doors everywhere, but you don't want to open them. Who knows what could be behind. But your thoughts are torn from doors and unknown horrors by something else. An eye. You've seen them before, as decorations on doors, but this one is different. Light comes from its pupil, illuminating some areas and statues like a yellow spotlight. But something is... off. Compared to the somewhat organized bathroom and playroom, it's messier here, and the statues are your size. The size of... children. And they look scared. Petrified. And then the burning. It feels hot, and it hurts to move, but you manage to duck out of the light and into the safety of a nearby shadow. This time, you wait until the light passes onto the other side of the area before dashing behind a bed-frame on its side, waiting for your chance. You have to be more careful next time, you remind yourself as you light another lantern. A few more seconds in that light and you would've ended up as one of those poor kids. But you're safe; that's all that matters at the moment. You're alive.

You can see the Nome from earlier disappear into a hole in the wall. They've always interested you, now that you think of it. You've seen them sometimes, in your little corner, but they wouldn't get too close. Once, one had even tried to befriend you.. Somewhere it had gotten a piece of bread and shared it with you. Aside from the Nomes you've hugged, that was the closest in relationships you've ever been to any other living thing. You smile, knowing that it'll be safer in its hole and other forgotten places. But the thought soon passes when you remember where you are.

The door you entered from slams shut as the place rocks with the current and another creaks open; you instinctively dive under a bed, quieter than a mouse. A figure three times your size enters, and another thought comes into your mind that this... person was the one dragging the cage from earlier. He doesn't seem to take notice of you, guiding himself along the beds, across the room, careful not to wake the children and exits just as quickly as he appeared, long arms closing the door slowly and carefully behind him. After what seems like minutes, you come out from your hiding spot, sure that the long-armed man wouldn't return for a while. You can't reach the doorknobs, so you find another way along with some (conveniently placed) cages and shelves. When you drop down however, you double over in pain.

You were hungry. No, _starving_. And there was no food in sight. But you had to continue on. You couldn't just give up after all you've been through. It worsens, though, your stomach needing something in it _now_ or you pass out... or die. In the corner of your eye, you can see the silhouette of a single child behind bars. Upon closer inspection, in a cafeteria with a single loaf of bread in front of him. He seems to sense your hunger, picks up his loaf, hesitates for a moment, then tosses it to you. You look at him with bewilderment and thanks, then proceed to devour the bread until it is reduced to crumbs. When you're finished eating, you open your mouth to thank the boy properly, but find him curled up in the fetal position, breathing slowly. You grin, thank him in your head, then continue on quietly, careful not to wake the sleeping boy.

The proceeding area is dark, a mess of cages and boxes and long forgotten things, pipes leaking, the familiar sound of dripping water and another set of electrifying bars. The switch was around here... somewhere. Maybe up there, at the top of the tower of boxes? It's worth a shot.

You were right to climb up here, you think as you light a lantern should a Nome pass. It's a risky path, but it's for your freedom. Now, to find that switch...! You climb up a chain, huffing with the effort and jumping to a flimsy platform near the top. After climbing one more cage, you finally, _finally_ , find-  
two switches?

You flip the switch on the wall first which triggers some kind of machinery up there, but then what was the other one for? You turn it experimentally, to find that it controls the cage suspended by a chain (for whatever reason). You turn it back to it's original position, then manipulate the switch to move you to the other side. On said other side, there are file cabinets, and the switch you've been looking around for. Pulling some drawers open, you shut off the current, but it doesn't turn back, which is a good thing; it just meant you didn't have to run like there was no tomorrow. You hear something on the other side and immediately go over to investigate. A metal block sits near a hole, but the thing that catches your attention is the Nome in a cage. Lighting another lantern to help you see, you pry the door open and follow it back to the file cabinet room and give it a hug. It seems calmed down, and hesitant to part with you. You go back the weight and push it, hoping the block of solid metal doesn't separate from the rope. The other rope comes up, ending in a noose. You aren't exactly surprised to see it (you've seen worse, like the actual outcome of using such a thing), and grab hold of it. It brings you down, down, down, back to the place you started this elaborate puzzle of a room. You sprint, avoiding a couple of leeches who recently decided to make their home there, run, and make a running jump to the platform, to the bars and slip through, bumping your hand against it in your rush.

Your troubles aren't over yet, though. Another eye is activated, searching for intruders, but it won't find any. You've dashed behind the light's petrifying glare and effortlessly pass through. But your next thought as you go through the doorway leading to the next area is

_Oh God the floor is going to kill me_

It isn't a joke. But you have no time for thoughts. Only to run. You jump and land safely on the other side of the retracting bridge, jumping again to pull yourself up to safe, solid ground. Once you get past the danger, you slump down to rest. Come to think of it, you're kinda sleepy. As you find a small corner to rest in, you think back on who you are.

You can't remember your real name, but the only thing that comes into your head when you think of names is... six. It's random, you know, but you've always found weird things interesting, so until you can remember more, Six will have to do. How old are you...? Around nine, you guess. Your raincoat was your favorite; it kept water and slime away from you, but where you got it, you can't remember. Before you can ponder of more things, you drift off into a dreamless slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BONUS SCENE: Prison Toys  
> As you ran through the playroom, the electricity came back on, too late to reach the other side. You could spend a while here while looking for another way to turn of the current, so you took your time, looking at a swing set and exploring every corner. Then you heard a soft yet beautiful sound:  
> It was on top of a drawer, but you could maneuver your way to it. When you pick it up and examine it, it's a simple cylinder of hard plastic with a crank on the top. When you try to turn the crank, it's stuck. But how was that possible? You heard it make a sound earlier. If you tried to forcefully turn it, you'd break something inside. But before you can puzzle out how to fix it, the room suddenly shifts sideways, nearly throwing you off balance and in your attempt to stay upright, drop the cylinder. It hits the surface of the drawer, dislodging whatever was inside and it was like nothing like you ever heard.
> 
> It's beautiful. You can hear soft humming and whistling from somewhere; you aren't sure if it's you or another child or even a Nome. The floor rocks softly; you aren't sure if it's your imagination, but it's as if the place itself is singing along with the melody. But even with these thoughts, you don't take your eyes off the musical thing, as if looking away would stop it, never to play again. It had been such a long time since you smiled...
> 
> And then silence, whatever magic or happiness the moment brought gone to the shadows of the Maw.


	4. The Janitor Awaits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the lair of the impossible man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for not working on this for forever.

You wake up to two figures sitting in front of you. You rub your eyes blearily and the dark silhouettes are revealed to be Nomes, for some reason, keeping watch of you as you slept. Once you stand up, though, they bolt, you chasing behind like a game of tag. The door ominously slams shut, and the two creatures scatter to places you can't reach, leaving you alone again with the dark and mist and the ever present eye on doorways. It's cold, and you shudder a bit because of the sudden drop in temperature, then climb up, up, up, and come into a fork. Do you continue on the stairs, or explore another room at one of the landings?

You decide to explore the other room, but find nothing in it but a desk and a chair, though... but you've learned not to overlook anything. You climb up the desk and find a blank papers strewn all over, and a lantern; if you were bigger, it would be no more than a desk lamp to you, you notice. But other than that, nothing of interest. So you explore the rest of the room, examining the checkered floor before noticing the peculiar stain on one of them. Something told you that that stain (what was it though...?) meant something, so you stand on it. Your instinct is correct, a door opens, but when you move to enter, it slams shut. That doesn't discourage you, and you drag the chair so that one of its legs are resting on the tile, allowing you access. 

Inside this room, you find one of the Nomes from earlier, which runs out of the room once you find it. The only other things of interest are a chair, a button, and another eye. It doesn't seem to be the kind that can kill you, so you walk up to it. On second thought, this isn't any ordinary wall decoration. You push the button, and the sheets of metal slide open to reveal the room where all those kids were sleeping. You push the button again, the eye closes as if nobody touched it. You've had enough of this room, so you exit and continue up the staircase. At the foot of the steps is the Nome, waiting for you. It wants to play tag with you, you think, and play along, chasing it up the stairs. It's faster than you, as most Nomes are, and rushes over to a box and hides behind it. You come up a second later, panting and smiling, and you hug the Nome, the little game over.

When you continue on you hear soft pattering behind you, the playful oddity mimicking your steps, but once it sees where you're headed, it stops. The creature nods it head in a friendly way, turns around, and disappears into the shadows of the far side of the area. At the top of the stairs, you find a door. It's like a mix between a porch and a balcony, the entrance to someplace yet several feet off the real ground. The doorknob is too high for you to reach, but a window is next to it, and you climb inside, letting you into... a person's living quarters.

A few Nomes gathered in the center of the floor scatter when you make your presence known. The place smelled of rust and stale air and the ever-present scent of salt, and you couldn't help but notice that the way the furniture was made was, to say the very least, _weird_. Drawers and cabinets seemed to stretch almost all the way to the ceiling (which was tall, seriously tall). A toilet in the corner had a pipe with extensions about half the height of the drawers to reach the water tank and flush. And the pictures. They were scattered here and there, and the things they portrayed were mostly portraits, but you couldn't stand to look at them without a shudder. A lever rests on a wooden compartment, and curious, you pull it. A bed flops down, springs screeching before settling down to more silence. You use the bed to get access to the rest of the strange room, and stumble across a key on a table you could never reach on the ground. A bit more exploring makes you find another statuette of the same kimono-wearing figure high on a shelf. You don't want to touch it, and putting the thought aside, you grab the key and jump safely down. Near the bed is a portion of cut wallpaper- another door, you realize- and going through, find the lock the key is for.

The door is heavy and hard to push, and clicks closed as the current rocks the place. Another mechanical door is ahead, along with... a monkey toy. How it got here, you have no idea, and you don't like the look of its eyes. Then you throw it away from you with all your strength at a button to high to reach, and the whole room shakes, the monkey's cymbals accompanied by it's screeching filling the room along with the elevator's rattling. A moment later, a _ding!_ sounds and the door opens to another lift, so you bring the toy with you and toss it at another button, and the lift starts again, down this time, and longer than you expected. You sniff. Cold must be getting to you. The _ding!_ announces that you've reached its destination, opening its door to a new path of horrors.

When you exit, you feel sick. No... you're hungry again. It seems like days since you last ate. The cold doesn't help, nor do the rats scampering here and there. You aren't sure whether you would die of hunger or disease first. But as you continue walking, you come across a rat trap, a small chunk of raw meat as bait. But with the growing pain in your stomach, you can't think straight. You head directly for it, not caring that the meat could hold endless possibilities for the downfall of your health, and bite into it. You take a few more bites until you come to your senses and stand, but before you exit the cage, the door slams shut behind you and you pass out.


	5. The Man With the Long Arms

You wake up to darkness and the sound of a cage being dragged away and can just barely make out outline of your own, and you feel a bit sick. You shouldn't have eaten that piece of meat, but then again, you had no other choice. Your eyes start to adjust more, and it turns out you aren't alone. Cages are almost all around you, with at least one child in them. They all seem cold, curled up, or out of hope. Then panic seizes you. You throw yourself against the wall of your confinement, realizing that your cage is placed at the edge of another one, then you do it again, ignoring the pain the effort is causing, and one more time until it crashes to the floor. The children that have some strength left in them watch you wide-eyed, but the others don't even flinch. As for you, your raincoat has taken most of the shock of the fall, but the metal has grazed your legs a bit. Great. Now you could die from starvation, illness, and/ or tetanus. But you don't have the time to worry about how you die. All that matters now is that you're alive. But... where were you? You were in a room full of cages that were full of children, yes, but... how do you get out? You try the door to your right, which is open by just a sliver. Nothing there but the vast abyss of metal and a lantern (which you light), so you go back and look around.

All the kids' cages need a key to open them, and they don't look like they'll last long. And even if they could come, all these children to look after was too big a responsibility, and you could barely take care of yourself! So either way you chose, the children were safer here. Who knows what lies ahead. So you drag one of the smaller cages (its occupant doesn't protest) mumbling a 'sorry' as you climb on top to reach a chain. When it's completely pulled down, the other doorway opens. But you have to act quick. You swing on the chain for momentum, and let it propel you forward and run the rest of the way until you make it past the closing door.

It leads you to a barren room, save for a door which you think will never open no matter how hard you tried, so you use the structure of the other gate to climb up to a hole in the ceiling. It leads to a room with a bathtub and a candle, and after lighting up the latter, continue on to A vent in the corner. You can hear heavy breathing ahead. It sounds vaguely familiar... You should keep quiet. Thankfully, parts of the wooden floor (which creak with every footstep, no matter the weight) have been covered with carpet, masking the sounds of your steps.

You can see who the figure from the prison bedroom was clearly now.

Trench coat, a hat, and impossibly long arms, he was reaching into a nearly empty cage, and pulled out a girl covered in leech ooze. Then placing her almost gently onto the table in front of him, he pulled a length of cloth from a dispenser, cutting then wrapping then tying the bundle together, he set it onto a meat hook to be transported to another landing. You had to do something. But in your fear you forgot about keeping quiet and stepped onto the wooden floor, giving you away.

The man stopped mid-reach, and turned abruptly toward where you were standing. You jumped just in time to reach a part of carpeted floor, but surprisingly, he didn't seem to notice. Then you realized the one thing you overlooked when you first saw him: he was _blind_ , and almost as if to prove the fact, the man felt around his surroundings, searching for the source of the sound. With his back turned, you climbed onto a cage nearby, careful not to scream or make any noise, and jump again onto another carpeted area leading to a vent. You weren't sure if he'd go back to culling those poor kids or look around some more, but you didn't want to stay long enough to find out. The only possible exit here was a pulley operated trapdoor, and a crank slot was nearby. The crank itself lay not too far from its partner. Grabbing it, hoping the long-armed man wouldn't hear, you hurriedly pushed it into the slot and turned as fast as you could. It wasn't fast enough. The door connecting the two rooms was opening, and taking the risk of being crushed to death by a metal trapdoor, turn the crank one more time and make an adrenaline-fueled dash for the opening.

You make it just in time.

After a brief moment of falling, you land on a pile of shoes. Not exactly the best way to escape certain death, but at least you were unharmed. Climbing up to the only other way out, you've never felt so... you don't know how to describe it, but it's like you're scared out of your wits, but you have to go on, and at the same time the thrill of this adventure is incredible. The scared-out-of-your-wits feeling is stronger, though. Then something comes crashing down, and you yelp in surprise at-  
a shoe. You laugh, and keep walking. There's a lantern here, and although you don't think a Nome would pass here, you light it anyway because even the darkest places need light. But mostly because while you aren't half-starving to death, outwitting a blind, long-armed guy, or just walking in this seemingly endless labyrinth of a prison, you have nothing else to do. After lighting it, you see a ladder just your size, and out of curiosity of what's at the top, you climb it. Then you see a Nome, sitting at the edge of a vent, just staring into nothingness (probably daydreaming). So you were wrong when you thought Nomes didn't come here that often. It sees you, and runs deeper into the passage. You follow it to a little area of its own, pieces of damp cardboard covering the cold metal floor and a candle to light the place. You give it a hug and fall down another hole in the creature's home. But now you're wondering something else:

Why are there so many shoes here...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in a day I'm on a roll here!
> 
> Sorry if these seem rushed (because they kinda are!) but I would like to thank everyone for reading this and those who have left kudos and that one kind user who bookmarked this work. Just- thanks. A ton.


	6. Cold Feet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably shorter than most chapters on this work, but it's probably better than waiting for another eternity. Enjoy!

You find the answer when you near the exit of the vent system. Shoes everywhere, filling every nook and cranny in the area, save for suitcases scattered here and there. But they didn't seem to be your size, even from here. You drop down to the suitcase directly below you, noting the musty smell was a bit overwhelming. Now that you were up close, you could see clearly that these were the same kinds of shoes back in the vents, big enough for you to put both your legs in. Then something else occurred to you, something you hadn't thought of earlier. Who did the shoes belong to?

Obviously, not to you or any other child, and most _definitely_ not a Nome. That left the impossible man, but even though he was bigger than you, you were almost sure that the shoes here were loose for even him if he ever wore one. So that left one thing: The Maw had other inhabitants. And you were only beginning to see the horrors that would await you. Only one way to find out whether or not you'd make it, and with that, you dive into the sea of footwear.

As you waded towards the next closest suitcase, you hear something behind you. Shoes being tossed aside from underneath.

Something was here, and it was coming for you.

Adrenaline courses through you, but you can't sprint. You'd go head over heels and then you'd boost the chance of being caught by whatever it was by a thousand percent. You try to keep your panic at bay, one foot in front of the other, no need to rush, just keep on going almost there- and then you clamber on top of the suitcase and grip onto it like a lifeline as a dull thud echoed, a failed attempt to catch you. You waited a while, to catch your breath, let your heart relax, and steel yourself for the next time you went in there. You make a running jump and hear the shuffling of the monster below, close but not close enough to pull you under. At the last second, you think it has you, but you make it just in time. Now just one more suitcase to jump on and you're safe. No reason to hurry, though. You don't think whatever's down there will reach out and grab you as long as you stay on top of the suitcase, so you use the short break to catch your breath and think about some things. You know from your train of thought earlier that there were possibly other inhabitants of the Maw. Either that, or this place is one _hell_ of a shoe factory. You grin at your own thoughts. Maybe this is where all the reject footwear is sent! Almost as if on cue, two or three pairs of mismatched shoes drop in from a chute you haven't noticed before. You start giggling from your own humor and how convenient the timing of those shoes was (though part of you still wondered where they came from), but even that moment wouldn't— couldn't— last, and with that, you run and jump again, wading through the shoes faster and faster until you manage to reach your destination. The thing hits the suitcase you were on earlier but you aren't there anymore; you're already making your way to the next room.

The stench of rotting flesh hits you, and you try not to double over from it. Dead rats are strung up from the ceiling, and he leaking water doesn't help, either. Something liquid falls on your foot and you don't want to know where it came from anytime soon. You shake the drop of with a shudder. As you proceed, you hear distant metallic clanging. You hope it's just the machinery or an engine of sorts. But unfortunately, it's the man again, and he seems intent on catching you for some reason. You sprint and side under pipes blocking your way, thankful that your chaser is slower than you are. But why is he chasing you in the first place...? Were you just another vermin to catch? Maybe and maybe not. But you didn't want to think. You wanted to get away from everything, from running and hunger and the never-ending nightmares. Your eyes light up as you spot an elevator door just up ahead and you run faster. But there's not enough distance between the two of you for you to grab something and close the door, so you quickly duck into an empty crate. A second later, the man comes in, feeling around for you. After a few moments he gives up and pushes the button.

As the elevator starts going, you manage to get a close look at your pursuer. It was too dark to get a good look at him the first time (and plus, you were hiding under a bed), you were too distracted by what he was doing with the children when you saw him for the second time, and paid no attention at all to him when you were being chased except to glace back to see how much distance was left between you two, but now, you could examine him without being grabbed. He had _really_ short legs half obscured by his trench coat, giving him the appearance that he was only half a body. His... skull(?) was exposed at the top of his head, the skin folding over where his eyes would be; you thought is was just a blindfold. And there was something on the left part of his coat. A tag, you realized. You could read a bit, but you could only make out a lowercase L (or was it an uppercase i?) at the beginning and an R, written hastily. But before you could process this fully, the ride had come to a stop and a few Nomes (who had been silent the entire time) suddenly flew into a panic, scurrying out, the impossible man following. Either the word written on the tag was a name, or the word 'JANITOR' almost completely erased or scratched off. At least you knew what he was now, and with that, you come out of your hiding spot and continue on.

The next room reminds you of the playroom back in the place where all the children were being kept. A box of building blocks rested a few feet away from another toy monkey, and countless trinkets litter the shelves. You go to pick up the monkey when you hear hollow thuds instead of your footsteps. _This is a loose board. And there's a hollow place under it._ You push the box away from you and then the plank swings, bringing you and the toy monkey to a drainage system. As you try in vain to silence the screeching coming from the toy, you hear footsteps plodding not so far away. The creak of a door follows immediately after, then silence. You wander to the only other exit (a drain) and start to climb up. Before you do, though, you notice another one of those porcelain dolls. You shove it hard and the delicate thing breaks. Then you proceed up. He's gone... good. The room contains nothing more than a shelves full of more lost things, wooden dolls in every place that seemed to watch you even without proper faces, and a door. Like most doors, it seems impossible for you to open it by yourself, and you are once again forced to look for another way out. But for now... you'll sleep. You find a vacant spot among the dolls scattered on the floor and curl up, trying to think of another way out. You're a little cold, and all the near-death experiences are making you paranoid. Every distant thud becomes the long-armed man searching for you. Every creak of metal sounds like a leech coming for you. But you banish the thoughts and your growing hunger and fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just had to put in the elevator/nametag scene. Feel free to decide whether it reads "ROGER" with the right half of the first R and all other letters erased except for the second R or "JANITOR" with the lower part of the J and all other letters erased except for the R. Six's curiosity depends on it.


End file.
